Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-05-23
Well Boring.

The Bulletin refers 10 an invention
which is alleged to overcome one If the
chief difficulties in boring artesian wells
"a tool which will drill a hole larger
than the casing of the well above it-as
follows:
Many of the artesian wells " hich have
been sunk are hundreds of feet deep ADD
have been made with tools which
have not been improved for de-
cades. In certain kinds Of work
these primitive tools will do
good work. They will sink hole
through sand, gravel or clay very easily,
but when they come to rock their inetfi.
cheney is made apparent, especially when
the rock lies at an angle, which causes
the drills to slip off to one side. In
drilling through rock with these COM
mon tools, it has been found almost im-
possible to put down to any great depth
pipe of the size OF that with which
the well was started. 1t has been
possible to dril a hole only as
large as the drill which could be put
down through the iron tubing which
had been sunk through the soft sand
ard earth to the rock. In consequence
the hole through the rock would be
smaller than the tubing, which could
not be put further down. In conse-
quenee when the well was sunk through
the stratum of rock, and sand or clay
was again encountered, a smaller line
of casing would have to be put
down within the larger line until
another stratum of rock was encount-
cred. Boring through the second stratum
| ifata nd IL
lire of casing so that the further the
well was sunk, the smaller IT become,
and the greater the cost per foot. With
a thousand'foot we'll there might be
three thousand feet OF casing, and the
total cost would be more than twice as
much as though only one line were put
down.
How this source of expense could be
avoided and only one line of pipe be
rendered necessary has been problem
which has been only recently solved by
Charles G. Lane, of this city, who is en-
gagged in sinking the artesian we'll at
Mare Island. This well is now down
1900 feet, and the contract depth of
1900 feet will be reached in few weeks.
In sinking this well, which is
through rock for long distance
only one line of casing has been used,
and the apparently impossible UNDER
taking of drilling hole larger than the
pipe through which the drill is lowered
has been accomplished. 10 fact, drill
going down through q six.inch casing
can drill an eight.inch hole, SO that one
size of casing can be run from the top to
the bottom of the well. The drill
in question is simple in principle.
and in practical use has been found to
do the work expected of it. In general
terms, the drill is composed Of three
long pieces, the middle one of which is
movable. When about to be lowered
into the casing. the middle piece is
slipped from between the two side
pieces, enabling them to come together,
so that, for instance, they can readily
60 down six-inch hole. As soon
as the end of the casing is passed,
however, the paiural spring OF the sides
allows the middle piece to resume its
place, and there is formed solid too
with an eight.inch cutting edge. TIL,
! problem of how to bore an eight incl
hole with tool which must first pas
} through a six.inch one, has been prett,
satisfactorily solved.